Basketball is a sport, like many other sports, which requires discipline and training and more training. The object in basketball is to shoot the ball such that the ball goes through the hoop which is attached to a conventional backboard. This is how points are scored, whether thrown from the free throw line or during actual play. To get good at the game, one must spend hours of practice of shooting the ball at the basketball hoop until one develops the accuracy required to be competitive. Often times one must practice alone, which requires the practicing player to chase the ball, after shooting, in order to retrieve the ball. Chasing the ball can dampen the player's enthusiasm for the game and could result in shortened practice sessions. What would help the practicing player is to have a training device which would direct the ball back to the player. The present invention does that very simply and is rotatably adjustable such that the player can practice shots from any position on the gym floor.
The following U.S. patents are submitted as being of interest: U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,885, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,339 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,263.
Coen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,885, describes a basketball game which can be played by a person confined to a bed or wheel chair. The ball is returned to the participant by a net deployed below the basketball hoop on the backboard at one end and to the player at the other end.
Grimm, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,339, also discloses a device for returning basketballs. The device includes a frame which supports a slide which directs the ball back to the shooter. The frame, in order to change the direction of the ball as it passes through the hoop, must be rotated about the basketball rim.
Similarly, Wiley, U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,263, illustrates a basketball return device which is an enlarged basket positioned under the basketball hoop. As the basket ball passes downwardly through the hoop, it is caught by the enlarged basket and carried down and outwardly by some chute guide means.
The present invention, unlike those discussed above, is a device that can direct the ball towards any desired direction in a non-complicated manner and which can be easily removed and/or placed on the basketball hoop.